The Future of Drinking Water: Making it Safe

At a water and health symposium at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health which focused on developing countries many of the suggestions could apply to areas in the US, for example: while taking a drink of water in the United States no longer carries the threat of cholera or typhoid fever—as it did 100 years ago—Schwab said that new problems pose new risks. Emerging pathogens resistant to chlorine disinfection. Aging water pipes. Agricultural contamination of surface and groundwater. The Center for Water and Health is currently testing the effectiveness of some “point-of-use” water treatment systems—typically meant for use in the home—to provide potable water to isolated and rural communities, One such strategy is the use of ceramic water filters, in the form of pots made from terracotta clay and sawdust. Unclean water is pored through the pot, which is completely porous, to strain potentially deadly bacteria. The filtered water is collected in a container beneath the pot.